


Living On Bottled Time

by Cody_Thomas



Category: Pet Shop of Horrors, The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: But not REALLY Character Death, Character Death, M/M, Second Chances, Song fic, Sorry Not Sorry, kinda crossover, the most fun I ever had writing fanfic, what if you really COULD save time in a bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-06
Updated: 2013-09-06
Packaged: 2017-12-25 18:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/956268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cody_Thomas/pseuds/Cody_Thomas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes there's another choice between Death and Eternity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living On Bottled Time

Of all of his journeys and of all the times he had lived, a single pair of lives still tugged at his heart, filling his soul with a sweet pain whenever the Count thought of them. The only two he had ever regretted leaving, the only two humans he had ever loved...the detective Leon Orcot, and the innocent, Chris.

He had never truly wished to leave them, not for the world. 'Humans have not yet earned the right to board this ship...' the final words he had spoken to the detective still rang in his ears. It wasn't true, Humans had never boarded the ship because they had never asked to. If Leon had asked to stay he would have gladly let him remain on the ship for eternity. In fact he had been but a moment away from keeping the Detective on the ship whether he will or nay, and would have then returned for Chris as well. But he didn't, he had pushed the Detective from him and over the side, wanting Leon to have a free and happy life, not a caged one. Besides, he knew that Eternity would not have suited the good detective. His was a practical mind filled with logic and facts, he refused to stray from that path of thinking for even a moment, and D knew that such an unnatural, irrational, and chaotic idea such as immortality and magic would have eventually driven him insane.

The Count glanced at a shimmering bottle sitting next to the tea service, ornate and decadent, with silver winding in spirals inside the dark, color changing glass. He smiled slightly. No, in the end it had been for the best that he had left Leon behind, even though he had missed him greatly. He had been the only mortal who had infuriated him constantly yet whose company he craved like a flower craves the sun. He had never let a mortal grow so close before and had never let another do so after. Yes, he had loved Leon greatly, which is why he had let him go, to live his own life. He knew the Good Detective had tried to find him constantly, but he never allowed himself to be found, for he knew if Leon ever did, this time he would not be able to let him go.

He'd barely had time to set up shop before the Detective had descended upon his world again and he'd had to leave once more. Until the end, the very end of his life, Leon spent every living breath searching and reaching for a memory of a distant dream he couldn't quite catch hold of. Apparently one of the Fates, or perhaps it was Desire whose interest they had piqued, had decided to put an end to their game of cat and mouse just to find out what would happen. Either way, by chance or by Fate, Leon finally caught up to him.

* * *

 

 

 

He had been walking back to the petshop in a small suburban town on the edge of a large city, having long since run out of Chinatowns to hide in, Leon was watching them all. It had been 32 years after he had left San Francisco, he'd only been here a week and was fairly confident that Leon would not find him for quite some time, when a cry of "Look out!" had rang in his ears. The car swerved as a warm body pushed against him, forcing him out of the way, but not fast enough to save his rescuer. The startled driver rushed off and D was left alone with the injured man. A single glance and his blood turned to ice.

"Leon!"

"D..."

A single word and he had lost, he could never let go again. He looked around frantically but there was no one else on the street except for a young woman in goth style clothes, smiling and walking their way slowly, the Ankh around her neck shining brightly.

"No...NO!" D had grabbed Leon, picking him up as if he weighed nothing and ran for the shop, they would be safe in the shop, she couldn't enter there. He couldn't see her, but he felt her follow.

_D...it is his time, let him go, let him find peace._

"No! Not yet, I have to tell him."

_You had 35 years to tell him, you just refused to. It's time to let him go._

"No greatest of the Endless, I cannot, forgive me."

D was at the petshop and inside the safety of its walls. She could not enter here, the entire place protected by powerful magics which kept Death just beyond the door. Her voice however, still permeated his mind.

_Why must you be so unreasonable?_

"Because he is the one I will always remember until I die, he is the one I cared for, he is the one who gives me hope for the rest of his race." With that he made a cut in his wrist with his sharp nails, his blood darker than any humans' and he pressed the wound to Leons' lips. "Drink Detective...Leon, please..."

The injured man slowly opened his lips, allowing the life giving ichor to trickle into his mouth. D knew his blood would not taste as such. To a human it would be sweet and remind one of warm summer midnights steeped in darkness and secrets. A kami's blood was a precious and potent magic elixir to anything mortal. It could delay aging, a single swallow could heal sickness and even bring someone back from Deaths' door. To a healthy man, it could add several years to his life.

_You cannot keep him forever D, even if you heal his wounds, you will only delay me. The moment he steps outside your shop, he will be mine again. You know he will leave eventually, he was never one to be kept. I am patient D, very patient, you know it's true._

"We shall see."

As Leon drank, his color returned and his wounds healed, when D knew that he would live for quite awhile, he pulled his wrist away, the cut already healed.

_Why prolong his pain D? Don't you think he has suffered long enough already?_

"The human is mine now My Lady, I shall not give him to you yet. I am sorry."

_He could drink all of your blood little kami, but the end will be the same, you can prolong life, but you cannot stop death. Even you do not live forever._

"True, but I have bought some time."

_Yes, you have, for now. You are truly a romantic, deny it as you might. Very well, I hope you enjoy your second chance, however long it may be._

She had left, he could feel it and he relaxed. He shouldn't have. No sooner did he have Leon resting soundly on the bed when a supreme presence made itself known right behind him.

**"My sister may not be able to pass your doors, but I am under no such restrictions. It has been a long time younger D."**

D whirled, startled and afraid. He had only heard that voice once before when it had spoken to his grandfather and he had been nearby.

"Dream Lord! You honor me with your presence!" He knelt swiftly. Two of the Endless in one day? What other surprises was he in store for?

**"This pet shop is a very rare place young Kami, and do you know why this is? It is because this place exists in each of the Endless' realms. Most places belong to only one or two, touching upon the others but briefly throughout their course. But this place is made of the very fabric of the Endless, Dream and Desire, Delirium and Despair, Destruction and your own Destiny. Death too, is a very consistent thing for what is to be found within your shop, however you never let my eldest sister inside. Why is that?"**

"Milord, this place is where the hearts, minds, fantasies and destinies of man, lead them to make a decision. Their choices may kill them but they come nonetheless, looking for companionship, love, forgiveness, a second chance. None have ever come here looking for or longing for their own death, broken as they may be they come here for hope, and until a human mortal desires Death and comes to me looking for her, she will forever be beyond the walls of my shop unless I invite her in for a time."

 **"I see. And what is it that you dream of finding here in the walls of your impenetrable shop with your own pet younger D? What has made you choose him for your very own?** "

D had looked at Leon, afraid to answer such a terrifyingly personal question about himself. He wasn't supposed to want or need anything except his vengeance upon humanity, but he didn't.

"I too, want hope. I want to believe that there is hope for their blind and fumbling race. I want him because he makes me believe that I shall succeed in finding it. He is a crude, coarse, uncultured, filthy minded slob with no sense of taste, yet he truly makes me feel as though all is not lost for them, he and his brother. To me they are apart from the rest of their race and I don't ever want to let them go again."

**"Humans die Younger D, it is what they do, there is no 'ever' for them."**

"I know, but that will not stop me from trying to change it."

**"You want to grant him Eternity? You whose race has openly declared their plans for vengeance upon all of their kind?"**

"No Lord Dream, not Eternity, he could not accept Eternity. Perhaps Chris, but never Leon. I...I just want them to remain with me until I die."

**"You are lonely, I did not believe that your kind could get lonely."**

"It is true that I am meant to forever walk alone, but that does not mean that I do not get lonely."

**"So it is TIME that you wish for. THAT young kami, is easy to grant. However, Time can reveal several things in a person you may not at first see. Are you sure that it is what you want?"**

"Yes Lord Morpheus, I am sure. I have seen Leon at his worst already."

**"Then let us see what HE wants and go from there. He has lived the better part of the last three decades in my realm, so I will grant him a single wish, let us see what he would have happen with that wish."**

Morpheus had walked over to the sleeping Leon soundlessly. "Awaken dreamer, your dreams are at an end for now." Leon's eyes had fluttered open, and he stared straight into the starry orbs of the Dream King.

"I know you from somewhere." he mumbled. "I know I know you, but I should remember someone as crazy looking as you, as crazy as that damn D..."

The Dreamlord looked over his shoulder to D with a questioning look. **"THIS is what you want to 'hold close and cherish until the day you die'? I think perhaps that you belong to my youngest sister far more than I at first believed."**

D merely smiled. "Perhaps."

**"What do you want human? What do you dream of having that can never be taken from you? A single wish, right now, for the universe if you want it, but once it is spoken it may not be changed."**

Leon looked at the Dreamlord, then around the room, his eyes catching D and locking on in hopeful desperation.

"D...I want D. I want how it used to be between us, with me and Chris and him, having tea in the shop and some super rich dessert that could kill a diabetic with one bite, while that damn Tetsu and Q-chan tried to draw blood and Pon-chan cuddled up to Chris. We...we were never the same after D left, something we needed, something important was gone and I've spent my whole life trying to get it back. I don't care if it's just a minute, just an hour, just a day, I need the rest of my life to be with D."

**"Very well."**

The Dreamlord stepped back, once again facing D. He pulled open a pouch at his side and drew an ornate bottle with a cut crystal top and silver swirls from the inner folds of his cloak. The pouch was filled with sand, crystalline white and steeped with magical potential. He took a single pinch of the fine powder and let the grains fall deftly into the open mouth of the color shifting bottle. The inside glowed for a single second as Morpheus again touched the sand and drew a symbol in the air, golden light following its path. The mobius strip he had drawn became an hourglass turned on its side, the sands laying evenly on both sides.

**"This bottle is now able to hold Time, all the Time you will ever have young kami. The hourglass is _his_ Time, each grain a second of his life, perfectly preserved till yours runs out. But it comes with a price. Your blood has granted him extra years he was not meant to have. See how the sands are even? If you accept Time you forfeit the extra life you have given him. Normally he would die immediately, but I made a deal with my sister so that he would die in one month, peacefully, in his sleep, from the disease which has slowly been killing him for years. Deny it and it shall never be offered to you again. He would live out the remainder of his life with you, quite a bit of it you gave him, but your blood is powerful, not perfect. It can not cure this illness D, it can not heal this. You can stop the signs, you can give him years, but it will eventually kill him and it will be painful. He will still age, still suffer. Can you imagine what it will be like, looking at him at a hundred and sixty years old, looking like he's fifty and can't breathe or eat or speak on his own, the only thing keeping him alive and out of pain is human drugs or your blood and each swallow condemns him to another ten years of life? How long do you think you could stand it? The choice young kami, is yours."**

No, it wasn't. D looked to Leon, what did HE want? It was his life, his decision. "Take it D, it's okay, I...I don't want all that extra time, I know how dying feels already and I don't want to do it slowly for the next eighty or ninety years. Just let me stay here with you until it's time alright?"

D nodded and again faced the man whose skin was quite possibly paler than his own. "We thank you for this gift Lord Dream and we humbly and graciously accept it."

The sands of the hourglass shifted, leaving what remained of Leons' life slowly trickling into the bottom of the time turner. The hourglass slid inside the mouth of the bottle and the Lord Shaper elegantly replaced the glass topper before offering it to D. D nodded and accepted the bottle from the Dream King with a solemn bow.

**"This Time lasts as long as you do. The moment you die, this bottle and its contents will no longer exist unless your next incarnation also remembers him, in which case it will reappear. I wish you the best little kami, and you as well, little mortal, be content with your Time."**

 

 

 

 

> _If I could save time in a bottle,_  
>  _the first thing that I'd like to do,_  
>  _is to save every day, till eternity passes away,_  
>  _just to spend them with you._

 

Then D and Leon were alone. All of Leon's injuries had been healed, as well as the vigor of his youth. They talked late into the night about all manner of things and about an hour into it D had gotten up for a moment and had returned with a smile as he set down the antique tea service and a plate piled high with an array of gourmet sweets. D had poured and served the tea while Leon searched for the thing least likely to give him a stomach ache, settling at last on a rather innocent looking lemon square. It had come as a huge surprise to D that the illness Leon was dying from was lung cancer. Lord Dream had been right, his blood could heal diseases, but only delayed cancerous growths, he would have been doing Leon more harm than good.

"I guess I should have listened to you about the cigs a lot sooner than I did. But: 'That was in another country and besides the bitch is dead.' right?"

"Language Detective."

"D, I ain't been any sort of detective for going on 30 years now, the only thing I've been tracking down is you."

"Then you are my personal private eye are you not? Whatever would you have done if you had found me?"

"So many scenes ran through my head over the years, but all of them included making sure that you would never get to leave me again no matter what."

"That is something you will never have to worry about, you are now with me until the day I die, and believe me Detective, that is longer than most mortals can even fathom."

"You knew I was looking for you, why did you always stay away? You knew I wanted to see you, to talk like this, just like always. I don't understand... Why did you always run?"

"Because if I had seen you again, just for a moment...if you had spoken just one more word to me, then I would have never been able to release you again. I wanted you to have a real life, not a caged one. You were never one to be kept."

Leon had stood, his eyes swirling with so many emotions D couldn't tell what he was thinking as the detective leaned over and kissed him slowly, tenderly, successfully making the Kami melt before Leons' lips had moved to his ear, whispering softly. "But I was through with running, I wanted to be caught. I never wanted you to go, when you did it broke my heart. I'm the lost stray who's been trying to follow you home for 32 years, don't turn me away now."

"Leon..." His detectives lips had descended on his once more and he had found himself hardly able to breathe for joy.

"I love you D, I don't know how or when or why, but I fell in love with you long before you left and when you did is when I finally realized it. I won't pretend to understand everything you are or can do, but it doesn't matter, I don't care, I love you and I just want you to love me back, it's all I want."

"I love you too Leon, against all duty, reason and common sense, but when has Love ever been rational, logical or sane? I loved you since you first came into my world. In my eyes you were the champion of your race, trying to protect every last one of them from me, and somehow convincing me at least two mortals weren't all that bad. You brought Chris into my world and I don't think I'd ever been happier. He was almost my own, I saw him as our own to be honest. But it wasn't to be, his time there was never meant to be permanent, and his true place was with his mortal family, not me. How is he? I've never heard news of him, I never got back to San Fransisco and I would have known if he had ever looked for me."

"He's fine. He's an FBI agent and he moved back to the city after my mom and dad died. And he did search for you, he was hoping to find you as much as I was, he was just a lot quieter about it. I had disappeared for so many years that he hoped that I was with you. One day he met up with uh...I don't know if he's your father your brother or your son to be honest...Baby D, whatever you want to call him, and they get along great. I saw them once, it reminded me of the old days, and I think that is why Chris has been able to smile again. He was never the same once you left, he would have probably joined me in the search if he hadn't met him. We need you D, and I won't let you go..."

 

 

 

 

> _If I could make days last forever,_  
>  _if words could make wishes come true,_  
>  _then I'd save every day like a treasure,_  
>  _and then again, I'd spend them with you._

 

 

They had kissed once more and it was then that D had realized that it was himself, not Leon who was truly captured. They made love that night, time and need making both desperate to place a link between the years which had divided them. Leon proved an excellent lover, and D found himself quite fond of how his 'pet' curled against his chest when he slept, nuzzling into his embrace and purring in quiet contentment. D treasured every moment with Leon. They spent the days talking and laughing, the tea always there and every meal spent around its steaming comfort. They had loved that whole month, each clinging desperately to the other, losing sight of one's self and reaching for the completion which had no words and only the other could give, without restraint, for they knew the days were few.

But all good thing must end eventually, as they knew they must. One month to the day after Dream had appeared they knew it was their final night together. They made love until they were both exhausted and collapsed contentedly to the sheets, falling asleep in each others' arms, Leon clutching D to his chest.

 

 

_But there never seems to be enough time_   
_to do the things we wanna do once we find love._   
_I've been around enough to know,_   
_you're the one I wanna go through time with._

 

 

D awoke the moment he felt Death arrive outside his shop and he rose to allow her inside, as was the arrangement.

"Hello my Lady." He greeted cordially, his eyes slightly fearful, for even he feared Death to a point.

"Hi ya D, how are you?"

"Just fine Honored one." He replied, stepping back from the door to let her inside. "Welcome to my shop...for a time."

"Yes D, I know. Don't worry so much, I'm not taking him with me, remember?"

"As long as we understand each other My Lady."

He had led her back to his bedroom where Leon was sitting up and looking at the door, resigned to his fate. He breathed heavily as they both entered, his gaze locking onto Death as she walked easily into the room. "Hello Leon. We finally meet."

"Y...you don't look scary at all, but I'm still terrified."

"Fear of the unknown is the true terror people find when they meet me. I make them face a path they can't change or escape from going down. No matter what you believe, until you die there is no way to be sure of what lies on the other side of death and once there, you can't go back."

"What about me? I'm a special case right? What is going to happen to me?"

"Your body will die but your soul will not come with me. D is going to keep it with him until he dies and then both of you will come with me. You are going to be separated from Time until that point, suspended in the moment between Life and Afterlife till I return."

"Will it hurt?"

"No, it doesn't hurt, but the body panics in its desperation to cling to life, so it might be best if you were asleep so the transition is easier."

"D?"

The beautiful Chinese kami had seemed to almost float over to him and embraced him tenderly. The blond leaned up and placed a deep loving kiss on his lips.

"D, you never told me...what's your true name?"

"What makes you think I have one?" He whispered gently.

"Call it the Orcot instincts. Please tell me."

The Kami smiled and leaned over Leon's ear, whispering so low that he could barely even hear himself speak. "I have two names. I am a balance of happiness and damnation, so my names are Daemon and Delight."

Leon barely heard the quiet words that trickled into his mind and realized just how true they were. D could be your safety, or your worst nightmare, either way he was himself and no one could change that.

"I should have known. Love ya D."

"I love you too Leon, always. Sleep, and be happy, you are safe with me."

A tender kiss, soft and gentle and perfect and right. Leon would have missed that kiss. He heard the soft voice as a command he couldn't refuse, his eyes shut and he fell deeply asleep, still able to feel D's kiss on his lips.

"Hurry, My lady, before I change my mind."

Death stepped forward and touched the sleeping Leon, and instantly his breathing stopped. D fought down panic and the instinct to get him breathing and to start his heart again. He must remember that he was doing this for a reason. Leon stood beside Death, invisible to most mortal eyes but not to D. The sight of Leon as a spirit did not sit well with the young kami at all, it was wrong, Leon was alive and vibrant, not...not deadly pale and ethereal mist...D's chest felt tight, it hurt to breathe.

"D, please calm down, it's alright, I'm right here, I'm not going to leave you."

The Chinese kami looked straight into his detectives' eyes, a single tear trailing down his perfectly pale cheek as he stared at his lover.

"Tears? D, Those tears are precious, you are only allowed to cry three times in your life, how is my life worth that much?"

"Of course it's worth that much, if not you and Chris then who? Wait, h...how did you know that?"

"I...I don't know, I just knew somehow."

Death smiled and tapped a finger against her temple. "The collective mind. Every answer to every question, every thought and idea, is shared in the subconscious. Before you live you aren't physical, you are mental and spiritual...intangible. When you die you return to the intangible whole . Instead of just glimpsing pieces, all knowledge becomes your knowledge, every thought is your thought. You just used it without realizing it."

She took the Dreamlords' bottle, and opened it, allowing the tiny sandglass to rise out of it. There was one grain of sand left, caught in the middle of the bottle. "This is every moment of your life until right now Leon. D may bring back any time from the moment you were born until right now, but they will be but shadows, memories, reliving themselves without you being aware of it. The only time you will be truly conscious is if the sands are empty from one side, like this, then you will be in the in between, just like now, even though it will seem like you have a body. Time will be meaningless, you are separate from it, and the next time you are truly aware of it, eons will have passed. Can you handle that?"

"You know it." Leon touched the hourglass and there was a blinding flash of light. When it faded both Leon and Death were gone and D was alone with the sealed bottle sitting on the table.

It had taken him three days to open that bottle, he was shaking as his hand clutched the stopper. "Three days ago." He had whispered and pulled. Leon appeared right beside him and D had practically flung himself into Leons' arms, kissing him passionately.

"Whoa! Where the hell did you come from?"

"China, I thought you knew that."

  
"Smartass."

A coy smirk filled with secrets was the only response he gave. "You know, whenever you look at me like that it makes me want to force a reaction out of you D."

As Leon pinned him against the couch and proceeded to remove his chenogasm, he realized nothing had changed between them and he was happy, truly happy, for the first time in his life.

 

 

 

 

> _If I had a box just for wishes,_  
>  _and dreams that had never come true,_  
>  _the box would be empty except for the memory_  
>  _of how they were answered by you._

 

 

For the first five decades or so he never closed the bottle once and things went very well, but one day D saw Leon eyeing the pretty bottle, toying with the stopper next to it.

"Leon?"

"This little piece of glass is the only thing tying me to this world. You know, I had forgotten... that I had died and that time was passing without me. I mean, we go out to restaurants and movies and parks and your customers still come and go, but it never really hit me until now. I...I got a call today, from Jill's family, she died last night, at the age of 97...I died over fifty years ago and I never even realized it. I can't even go to her funeral, because how would that look, I'm supposed to be almost a hundred and I look half that? Chris is almost 80 for chrissakes, how much longer can he have, and I'm stuck here, unchanging, until the end of time? It's not right! Jesus D, how could I not have noticed, I mean, I look outside and it's a foreign world to me, how can you stand it?"

"Leon, I was over 600 when you first met me, the passage of time is much slower for me, so I learned to adapt quickly. Do...do you... regret your decision to stay with me?"

"NO! No D, I could never regret that, but please, do me a favor, seal the bottle. Only open it to the past until things have stopped changing, until everyone who ever knew me in my life is gone and I don't have to mourn anybody. I can't bear the thought of Chris dying, to me he's still just my baby brother. Please D, before it drives me mad..."

D had kissed and held Leon until he calmed down, and then had sealed the bottle, promising Leon he would never tell him of his brother dying. But he couldn't bear being without Leon and he did open it again. Sometimes he relived the old times when they had played their cat and mouse games, and he found that he enjoyed it even more so the second time around, for the startled looks on Leon's face as he pounced on him if nothing else. Other times he enjoyed the company of the older, more refined Leon after they had found each other and made their feelings known. A few times he rewound Leon's life to the time they had first met and let it play out from there, but no matter how long he waited, or what time he called forth, Chris never appeared, his soul was not with them. But then one day as he was serving tea to Leon in the parlor of the shop, D was startled to find a very young Chris peeking from behind one of the curtains at them and when D smiled at him, the young boy ran straight to the Count and held on tightly.

_/Count!/_

D realized that Chris' body must have died, he had refused the offer of immortality that the youngest D had probably begged him to accept. His pact with the Dreamlord was complete, their souls were now with him, separated from time until the day he died. D held him close and whispered to him.

"It's alright little one, you are home." When Chris was with them they had been a true family, and D had Leon come to the present again to celebrate.

"D?"

"Yes Detective. I have kept my promise, no more changes."

"Then Chris..."

"Is with us, as he was always meant to be."

The little boy dashed from behind D's Chenogasam latching onto his big brother. "Leon!"

"You shrunk!"

"The lady who came for me gave me a choice, go with her, or come here with you. She told me I got to decide where I would go, that I could create my own paradise, wherever or whenever that may be. This is where I belong, I'm happy here, can I stay this time?"

"Of course you're staying! You're never leaving us again! It's so good to have you back!"

"D, I missed you."

"We have missed you too Chris, welcome home."

_____ _ _ _

______________________________________________________________________ _ _ _ _

**Somewhere in the FAR distant future...**

______________________________________________________________________ _ _ _ _

_____ _ _ _

He wasn't immortal, about as close as you could get, but immortal...no, he wasn't that. There is no such thing as something eternal. Not even the Endless were eternal. They lived for eons upon eons after the deaths of gods, worlds, suns, even galaxies, but even they would one day have an end, for not even time is infinite. And contrary to popular belief, he did age.

True it was far slower than any human could discern, but once he reached the age of 25 he had stopped aging like a human so that about once every hundred years or so he aged a bit less than six months. He looked about 45 or so now, a few silver hairs mingling in with the ebony black and a single thin streak of the striking color hung in his bangs which hid his golden eye. He was old for a D, quite possibly the only one who would die of old age. He had no idea what had happened to his family after he had felt a terrible struggle in the blood line and felt two ties go dark and a new one spring to life. He hadn't tried to trace it, he didn't want to know, and he never sought out whoever was left. Eventually he would die too, and be reborn as the next generation of D in one way or another, not something an average human would ever understand, but it mattered not, humanity was dead.

The Earth had died 4 Millenia ago, snuffing out the last of it's few remaining humans with a disease which would never have a name. Then a century later it lost its battle with the corruption which had been done to it by them for so long. The animals had died out long before then, a common sparrow had been the last remaining creature on the wasteland of the world and in true Kami fashion he had reached out his hand and plucked the tiny bird from the grasp of by far the most polite and charming of the Endless. His vendetta against humanity was fullfilled, the animals were content so there was no one left to hate, he was finally free. His shop floated through the stars carrying a pair of every living creatures that had ever walked the Earth. He was the mythical Noah come to life as he sailed through the multiverse towards a new world where he would live with his animals, and a new race would either gain his favor or incur his wrath.

 

 

 

 

> _But there never seems to be enough time_  
>  _to do the things we wanna do once we find them._  
>  _I've been around enough to know,_  
>  _you're the one I wanna go through time with._

 

 

He lit the incense and placed the delicious strawberry cake on its serving tray. The tea service brewed a fine oolong while the delicate smoke perfumed the air with its mysterious aroma. Once everything was ready he walked calmly to the table where the bottle from the Dreamlord stood. He opened it thinking of Leon and Chris, and those times from so long ago.

Chris ran out from the back rooms squealing in delight with Pon-chan right on his heels as Tetsu charged after them. The little bell on the front door rang merrily and the Good Detective huffed inside, swatting Q-chan away from his face.

"It's like a frickin' hurricane out there! I'm lucky to have made it here alive!"

D smiled. "Good afternoon Detective, you're just in time for tea..."

 

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**Author's Note:**

> A/N: It's fic moving day! I really enjoyed this idea. It was actually the song [(Time In A Bottle by Jim Croce)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyTfbtZeGeU) that inspired the fic. I wondered what would happen if someone really could bottle time, and how some of my favorite bishies could benefit from it. This is one of the fics I've had the most fun writing, so I hope you enjoyed it. Please review, or kudos, (Or both) they make me feel so appreciated, and I always like knowing what the fans think. This story is pretty old, (2007 YIKES!) and I know my writing style has changed drastically in that time, so I will probably go back and polish it up a bit brighter soon, but I have always been proud of this one, so I wanted to bring it over. I hope you enjoyed this!


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